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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE Philippines’ foreign aid commitments in the first nine months
last year fell by more than a fifth due to declining pledges from
the three biggest international funding sources, the National
Economic and Development Authority said.
Documents from socio-economic department’s
Project Monitoring Staff showed that the country’s net Official
Development Assistance (ODA) commitments from January to September
dropped by 12 percent to $7.95 billion from the $9.002 billion
posted in the same period in 2007.
ODA is defined as flows of official financing
administered to promote the economic development and welfare of
developing countries and is concessional in character with a grant
element of at least 25 percent.
Projects funded by foreign donors generally deal
with infrastructure upgrade or improvement and require counterpart
funds from beneficiary governments. Reduction of these funds can
lead to a delay in implementation or outright cancellation of such
projects.
The government of Japan remained the country’s
biggest source of ODA at $3.184 billion during the period, down from
$3.34 billion in the same period in 2007.
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) net
commitment for the Philippines amounted to $1.456 billion from
January to September from $1.98 billion a year ago.
The World Bank’s loan commitment to the
Philippines also declined to $1.082 billion in the first nine months
from $1.8 billion posted in the January to September 2007.
Other sources of ODA commitments, on the other
hand, amounted to $2.23 billion in the first three quarters of the
year, higher than $1.88 billion in the same period in 2007.
These loans were dominated by ODA coming from
China, which amounted to $1.11 billion in the first three quarters
of 2008. The loan funded six big-ticket projects namely the
Northrail Project Phase I Section II with $500 million, Northrail
Project Phase I Section I with $400 million and Banaoang Pump
Irrigation Project with $35 million.
The Chinese government also funded the General
Santos Fishing Port Complex Expansion/Improvement project, which
received $24.99 million, the Non-intrusive Container Inspection
System Project worth $50 million and the Non-intrusive Container
Inspection System Project II worth $100 million.
Other ODA sources with high contributions
include the United Kingdom, which extended $357.12 million for two
projects. The Tulay ng Pangulo sa Kaunlaran received a loan of
$168.44 million and the Tulay ng Pangulo Para sa Magsasaka also
received $188.68 million from the UK government.
Loans from Korea also contributed significantly
to the increase in net ODA commitments from other sources. The loans
from Korea amounted to $164.92 million and funded three projects
namely the Laguindingan Airport Development Project with $92.2
million, Northrail-Southrail Linkage project for $50.42 million and
the Widening of the Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo road with $22.3
million.
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